A vessel docks at Yantai Port in East China's Shandong province. [Photo by Tang Ke/For China Daily]

Shandong Port Group (SPG) signed a strategic cooperation deal with Shandong's Yantai city on Jan 2, and both sides plan to deepen cooperation in areas such as the construction of its transportation infrastructure and port-vicinity industries, aiming to promote the integrated development of the port, city and local industries.

SPG is the world's largest port conglomerate in terms of cargo capacity, and it has made remarkable achievements since its establishment in 2019. The coastal city of Yantai continues to develop and prosper thanks to the port. This year, Yantai has set its GDP growth target above 5.5 percent, which is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan ($143.6 billion), according to Jiang Cheng, Party secretary of Yantai.

The city is beefing up its efforts to promote the development of the advanced manufacturing sector, expand high-level opening-up and accelerate industrial upgrading, and aims to boost its high-quality economic and social development, according to Jiang.

Huo Gaoyuan, chairman of SPG, said that in recent years, Yantai has made huge progress in economic and social development, and maintained steady industrial development progress. Over the past years, SPG has actively served and integrated itself into the country's new pattern of development, which has helped the port achieve outstanding results in 2022. Its cargo throughput and container throughput ranked first and third in the world, respectively, last year.

Huo added that SPG plans to make continuous efforts to build itself into an international shipping hub in Northeast Asia, and a world-class seaport operator. This year, it intends to deepen cooperation with Yantai in various fields, and help build the city into a modern and international coastal city.